The chairman of the supervisory board of the DFL, Hans-Joachim Watzke, welcomes Schalke’s decision to remove the Gazprom logo from the jersey – and can imagine help should Schalke finally end the sponsorship.
DFB interim president Hans-Joachim Watzke can imagine financial help for Schalke 04 if the second division team should part with its controversial Russian main sponsor Gazprom. “First of all, I’m very happy that Schalke have shown their attitude. I hope that this will continue,” said the chairman of the supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL) to the current sports studio on ZDF: “And if that’s the case Solidarity from the other clubs in Germany is required to get them out of this situation reasonably well, then we have to discuss how we can do it.”
Watzke emphasized that he was very happy “that the new management is now clearly showing its composure”. “In the end, I think, this could only result in ending this sponsorship.” After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Schalke announced that they would no longer wear the logo of their main sponsor. In the game at Karlsruher SC on Saturday (1:1), the royal blues wore traditional jerseys without the Gazprom name. The contract between the financially strapped miners and Gazprom runs until 2025. In the 2nd league, nine million euros are to flow from the Russian gas supplier every year, with promotion the sum would probably increase to 15 million euros per season.
Gazprom representative Matthias Warnig also resigned from the Knappen supervisory board on Thursday with immediate effect. In July 2019, the 66-year-old was sent to the supervisory board as a co-opted member by the main sponsor, which is 50 percent owned by the Russian state. Born in Lusatia, he is CEO of Nord Stream 2 AG and is considered a close confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin.